Course Manual

Table of Contents

 

Introduction to PhotoShop 4

Recommended Text: PhotoShop Bible

(Click asterisk beside feature to go to manual entry)

Lesson 1 Getting Started *

Start PhotoShop *

What is PhotoShop *

Examine the Interface *

Quick Keys: *

Open a File *

Open a new Canvas *

Duplicate an open image *

Show/Hide Palettes *

Select Colors- *

The Toolbox *

Review Exercises *

Shortcut Keys for Adobe PhotoShop 4 *

Shortcuts to Palettes *

Hotkey Combinations *

Alternate Key Combinations *

Control-Alphabet *

Control Key Combinations *

Shift Combinations *

Actions: *

Zoom and View *

Display options *

Fill Selections *

Move selections and objects *

Layers *

Exploring the Toolbar: Chickies *

Exploring the Toolbar: Erase *

Selections: The Marquee and Lasso Tools *

Lesson 2 CREATING SELECTIONS *

Selection Tools *

Adding to Selections *

Subtracting from Selections *

Moving the pixels inside the selection *

Moving the Marquee only *

Selections: Basic Marquee Selections *

Selections: The lasso tool *

Selections: The Magic Wand *

Selections: Selecting an irregularly colored background *

Working with Color *

Colors *

Mode *

Creative Brushwork *

Tool Options *

Lesson 3 Layers *

Preferences *

Create a new layer *

Merging layers *

Displaying and hiding layers *

Changing the order of layers *

Apply Modes - Layers *

Opacity *

Drop Shadows *

Homework: *

LAYERS *

Layers and RAM *

Creating a New Layer *

Layers palette *

CREATING AND NAVIGATING LAYERS *

Reordering a Layer *

Moving a Layer *

Changing Layers *

Setting Layer Opacity *

Deleting a Layer *

Linking Layers *

Merging and Flattening Layers *

The Background *

Changing the Background to a Layer *

Adding a Background Layer *

FLATTENING AND MERGING LAYERS *

Drag-and-Drop *

Duplicating a Layer *

Exporting Layers *

Duplicating Images *

Dragging more than one Layer *

DUPLICATING LAYERS *

Saving Selections *

Saving a Selection to a Channel *

What Are Floating Selections? *

SAVING SELECTIONS *

Layers, Channels, and Transparency *

LOADING SELECTIONS INTO LAYERS *

Load Transparency and Preserve Transparency *

Lesson 4 Channels, Filters and Apply Modes *

Review-Tools *

Channels *

Saving selections *

Loading selections *

Apply Modes *

Filters *

Filter Sets *

Types of Filters *

Fade Filter *

Using One-Step Filters *

Using Parameter Filters *

Drop Shadows - A recipe to remember. *

THE GRADIENT EDITOR *

Recipe — Drop Shadows *

Exploring Apply Modes *

Lesson 5 Masking, Blending Photos *

What Masks Are *

What Masks Do *

Three Advanced Exercises *

 

 

Introduction to PhotoShop

Lesson 1
Getting Started

TOPIC / SKILL /

TECHNIQUE

NOTES

Start PhotoShop

Click Start > Adobe > PhotoShop 4.x

The exact path may vary on your computer.

We will look at some samples of PhotoShop images which have been sent to your computers via email.

Warning: PhotoShop is a complex program — it’s not for the computer novice or the person who wants a quick way to remove redeye from a photo. You will need to practice skills covered in class on a daily basis. If you are not already familiar with running your computer, you are definitely going to be stressed.

What is PhotoShop

A Raster program. (vs. Vector programs)

Ø Raster: maps individual pixels. Each may have a different color. A photo has millions of colors, but no defined shapes.

Ø Vector: keeps track of geometric shapes. Color is applied to borders and fills.

Examine the Interface

Title Bar

Ø Exit

Ø Minimize

Ø Max/Restore

Take your notes on your handouts.

Take the time to learn quick keys and shortcuts as we go along.

Quick Keys:

Menu Bar

File

Ø New

Ø Open

Ø Save

Experienced PhotoShop artists keep one hand on the mouse and the other on the keyboard, making good use of shortcuts.

Edit

Ø Undo

Ø Cut

Ø Copy

Ø Paste

Select

Ø All

Ø None

View

Ø Show Ruler

Window

Ø Show/Hide

Open a File

Double-click background

Note: The usual menu commands work here as well, but we will be learning the specifics for running PhotoShop.

Open a new Canvas

Ctrl - double-click background.

Set a 400x400 pixel canvas size, 72 resolution, white background. (This is about 5.5 inches square.)

Shortcut – open a duplicate canvas

To open a canvas the same size as an open image:

Click Window ± name of open file.

Note: the name of open files will appear at the bottom of the Window dropdown menu.

Duplicate an open image

Click Image ± Duplicate

Note: Using a duplicate lets you keep a backup copy, in case of mistakes.

*OR right-click image title bar

Show/Hide Palettes

F5, F6, F7, F8, F9

OR Window ± (palette)

Palettes are used for selecting colors, brush sizes, etc.

Hide a palette by pressing tab, by pressing the palette's hot key, or by clicking the x on the palette's menu bar.

Select Colors-

color palette.

F5 = Brushes palette.

F6 = Colors palette.

Note: just for now, we will open only these two palettes for use. Next week we will add the Layers palette (F7).

Get into the habit of keeping a neat work area, right from the start.

The Toolbox

 

 

Quick Key

Tool

Notes

Notes

M

Marquee

Rectangle

Ellipse

Crop

 

V

Move

L

Lasso

W

Magic Wand

A

Airbrush

B

Paintbrush

E

Eraser

Y

Pencil

S

Rubber Stamp

U

Smudge

R

Blur

O

Dodge

P

Pen

T

Text

N

Line

G

Gradient

K

Bucket

I

Eye Dropper

H

Hand

Z

Zoom

Colors

Mode

Screen

 

Work with the tools as much as you can before the next lesson. Create images and bring them to show to the class.

Learn the quick keys (at least the ones you have used) by memory. You’ll be glad you did.

Notes:

 

Review Exercises

  1. Create a new canvas by ctrl-double clicking the background. Set resolution at 72. Make the dimensions 300x300 pixels. Create a second canvas and set the measurement to inches. Make the dimensions 5"x6". Set resolution to 300, background transparent. (PhotoShop uses a checkerboard to indicate transparency. The checks don’t print.)

  1. Create an image (draw!) on each of the canvases. Use as many colors as you like. Start with A, for Airbrush, and experiment with each tool in turn, through Z.

  1. Memorize the first group of Quick Keys — from A to Z. Say them as you fall asleep at night. Dream about them.

  1. Repeat the exercises we did in class. Don’t agonize over any of these. Just explore the program and have fun. If you get stuck, make a note to ask in the next class, and go on to something else.

  1. Create and print a picture of a red cat, a blue dog and an orange bird. Decorate and embellish the image. Print it, and bring it to class. (If you are using a black and white printer, keep the contrast high. Remember that red and blue will both print as nearly black.)

  1. Create and print an abstract design, using the line (N), marquee (M) and lasso (L). Fill marquee selections with the fill commands (alt-del, ctrl-del.)

  1. To save space on your floppy disk, save your images in JPG format. JPG was created to save in a small space with no discernable loss of quality. JPG is a "lossy" format, which means your images would lose information if you re-save too many times, but don’t be afraid of this.

Click File ± Save a Copy.

Click the Save As… box.

Choose JPG.

Click the File Name… box.

Type A:Image name

 

Shortcut Keys for Adobe PhotoShop 4

A Airbrush

B Brush (Paint Brush) (select next and previous brushes with [ and ] )

C Crop

D Default Colors

E Eraser

F Full (Toggles through three Views — normal, maximized and no title bar.)

G Gradient

H Hand

I Eyedropper

J

K Bucket

L Lasso

M Marquee (press once to select, again to toggle between ellipse and rectangle.)

N Line

O Dodge (toggles Dodge, Burn, Sponge)

P Pen

Q Quick Mask

R Blur

S Stamp

T Type

U Smudge

V Move

W Wand

X Exchange colors (switch foreground and background)

Y Pencil

Z Zoom

Shortcuts to Palettes

F5 Brushes

F6 Colors/Swatches

F7 Layers/Channels/Paths

F8 Info/Navigator

F9 Actions

Tool Options Double-click a tool

Or choose the tool, press enter

Hotkey Combinations

Key Combinations using the Alt Key

Alt

Changes color tools into the Eyedropper while pressed

Alt + Selection Tool

Subtracts from the selection

Alt-Shift with select tool

Intersects with existing selection. Only portions within both marquees will remain selected.

Alt while dragging marquee

Draws from the center. (click first)

Alt-shift while dragging marquee

Draws from center and constrains ratio.

Alt-Ctrl-J

Cuts, and turns a floating selection into a new layer.

Control-Alphabet

Ctrl

A Select All

Ctrl

B Color Balance

Ctrl

C Copy Selection

Ctrl

D Deselect

Ctrl

E Merge Down (Current level merges with layer below it.)

Ctrl

F Apply Last Used Filter, with last settings

Ctrl

G Group Layer With Layers Above It

Ctrl

H Hide Marching Ants

Ctrl

I Invert Colors

Ctrl

J Places the Selection on a New Layer

Ctrl

K Display "General Preferences" Dialog Box

Ctrl

L Display "Levels" Dialog Box

Ctrl

M Display "Curves" Dialog Box

Ctrl

N Open A New Canvas

Ctrl

O Open A Saved Document

Ctrl

P Print

Ctrl

Q Quit the Program

Ctrl

R Display Rulers

Ctrl

S Save the Current Image

Ctrl

T Free Transform

Ctrl

U Display Hue Dialog Box

Ctrl

V Paste Clipboard Contents Into Image

Ctrl

W Close the Current Image

Ctrl

X Cut Selection To the Clipboard

Ctrl

Y CMYK Preview (Displays what will actually print.)

Ctrl

Z Undo Previous Action

Ctrl

0 (Zero) Fit Image On Screen

Ctrl

Bksp Fill with background (foreground, pattern) color

Control Key Combinations

Ctrl

Changes any tool into the move tool while pressed

Ctrl – right-click

Click on part of the image, shows layer list.

Ctrl-Alt-(number)

Loads a channel.

Ctrl-Alt-~ (tilde)

Loads the RGB channel.

Ctrl-Alt-E

Copies layer contents to layer below.

Ctrl-Alt-Space-E

Places copy of all visible layers on current layer.

Ctrl-E

Merges active layer with layer beneath it.

Ctrl-J

Floats the selection, copies it onto a new layer.

Ctrl-Alt-J

Floats selection, copies it to a new layer, displays dialog.

Ctrl and Minus

Zooms out

Ctrl and Plus

Zooms in

Ctrl-click on layer or channel Selects non-transparent parts of the layer (you can select the non-transparent parts of more than one layer at a time by adding another selection. Shift-Ctrl-Click on name of next layer.)

Ctrl

Shift I

Inverts selection (Shift F7).

Ctrl

Shift E

Merge visible layers

Ctrl

Shift J

Cuts selection to a new layer.

Ctrl

Shift U

Removes Hue (turns a layer to Grayscale, leaves image RGB, opposite of Ctrl U.)

Ctrl

Spacebar Click

Zooms in on an area. (Z, marquee select.)

Ctrl

[

Sends layer back one (add shift to bring to front).

Ctrl

]

Brings layer forward one (add shift to send to back).

Ctrl

Shift D

Feather the selection (Select > Feather)

Ctrl

Shift U

Desaturates the selection. (Removes all color, leaves grey.)

Ctrl

U

Displays Hue/Saturation dialog

Shift Combinations

Shift + Selection Tool

Adds to a selection (Alt subtracts)

Shift-F5

Fill dialog box

Shift-F7

Inverts selection (Ctrl-Shift-I)

Shift-Ctrl-[

Send layer to bottom

Shift-Ctrl-]

Bring layer to top

Hold Shift, click &drag marquee

Draw a perfect square or circle

Actions:

Color Adjustment

Ctrl-U (Hue)

Color – Remove

Ctrl-Shift-U

Create New Layer

Click New Layer box on Layers palette

Crop the image

C, press enter to finish

Display Levels Dialog

Ctrl L

Draw from center

Hold Alt after starting to drag a marquee

Draw a perfect square or circle

Hold Shift after starting to drag a marquee

Draw circle or square from Center

[ALT]+[SHIFT] after starting to drag a marquee

Duplicate layer

Drag the layer to the New Layer icon.

Copy selection to new layer

Ctrl-J

Inverse the selection

[CTRL] + [SHIFT]+ [I]

Inverse the selection

Selection > Inverse (menu bar).

Load a Channel

Ctrl-Alt-(number). Ctrl-Alt-4 loads channel 4.

Load the RGB Channel

Ctrl-Alt-~ (tilde)

New Layer

Click New Layer icon, Layers Palette.

Copy selection to new layer, name it

Ctrl-Alt-J.

 

Zoom and View

Zoom tool

Z

100%

Double-click Zoom tool.

Actual Pixels

With Zoom selected, right click image ± Actual Pixels.

Fit on Screen

With Zoom selected, right click image ± Fit on Screen.

 

Or double-click Hand tool.

 

Or Ctrl-0 (zero)

Print Size

With Zoom selected, right click ± Print Size.

Zoom In

With Zoom selected (toolbar or Z) click on image.

Zoom Out

With Zoom selected, hold down Alt, click on image.

Display Options

Display the ruler in the units you want: Click the plus sign on the bottom-left of the Info palette. Or double-click the Ruler. Or set General Preferences.

Display image in zoom you want: Type value in zoom box on status bar.

Display efficiency, file size, scratch size or timing: click > on status bar.

 

Fill Selections

Fill Selection w/Background color (on Background layer)

Delete (or bksp)

 

Replace selection w/transparency (on layers)

Delete (or bksp)

 

Fill Selection w/Background color

Alt-Delete (or bksp)

 

Fill Selection w/Foreground color

Ctrl-Delete (or bksp)

 

Display Fill dialog box

Edit ± Fill

 

Move selections and objects

Drag

Moves object on selected layer, even if it is hidden behind other layers.

Move marquee (not image)

Drag (with selection tool)

Float a selection

Drag (with move tool)

Opacity of a Layer

Can be set on the Layers palette

Transform

Ctrl-T

 

Layers

1-9

Changes the opacity of the layer (10% - 90%)

0

0 (zero) sets opacity to 100 %.

Change active Layer

Move key (V, or hold ctrl) active. Right click object. Select desired layer.

Bring forward

Ctrl-]

Bring to front

Shift-Ctrl-]

Send backwards

Ctrl-[

Send to back

Shift-Ctrl-[

Composite of image on a new layer

Create new layer. Hold down Alt. Layers > Merge visible.

Home

moves view to upper left corner

End

moves view to lower right corner

 

Exploring the Toolbar:
Chickies

The Toolbox

v Can be displayed by clicking Window > Show Tools

v Can be hidden by pressing Tab, or clicking Window > Hide Tools.

 

Paintbrush

B

Options for the tool in use can be accessed by pressing Enter. Or double-click the tool on the toolbox.

Airbrush

A

 

Pencil

Y

 

Brushes

F5

 

 

Assignment: Use the Airbrush, Paintbrush and Pencil tools. Draw little chickies with each tool.

Comments: Don't agonize over your artwork. The point of this exercise is to become familiar with the tools. Use Default colors, draw in black, with the 9 pixel soft brush (second row, second brush.)

More: Try the same exercise using the 9 pixel hard brush. Which tool (s) create the same line with either the hard or soft brush? Why?

 

Exploring the Toolbar:
Erase

The Eraser

v can be accessed from the toolbox, or by pressing E.

 

Eraser options

v can be accessed by double-clicking the Eraser tool, or by pressing Enter, after the Eraser has been chosen.

Try it: Press E. Press Enter.

 

Assignment: Open Chickies. Duplicate the image (Image > Duplicate.)

Use the Eraser on the Chickies' tails.

Change the Eraser to different modes. Erase more of the chickies.

 

Comments: If the eraser doesn’t seem to be taking out all the color, check the opacity.

Set Fade to 10 steps, 50 steps, 100 steps, 200 steps.

Use the Paintbrush eraser with and without wet edges.

 

More: Try erasing spots and areas in a solid area, using different Eraser modes.

Change the opacity of the Eraser.

 

Question: Does it matter how long you hold down the mouse button?

Note: you can change opacity by typing a number.

1=10%, 5=50%, 0=100%.

If you type fast, you can be more specific: 67=67%.

Selections:
The Marquee and Lasso Tools

Marquee

v Can be accessed from the toolbox

v Can be accessed by pressing M

Press M. Look at the toolbox.

Press M again. Take another look at the toolbox.

v The Marquee tool toggles between a rectangle and an ellipse.

v You can set a size for the marquee, or pull it to the size you need.

v Once you have defined an area, you can move it by clicking inside it.

v If you click outside the defined area, it will be lost. (You can then define a new area.)

Lasso

v Can be accessed from the toolbox

v Can be accessed by pressing L

v The Lasso tool toggles between draw and elastic band modes.

 

Assignment: Use any colors you like for these exercises. Press M, and check that you have a rectangular marquee on the toolbox. Click and drag a rectangular shape. Change to an elliptical marquee.

Select your chicks with the rectangle Marquee. Do the same with the elliptical marquee.

Comments: Other paint programs have tools for drawing circles (ellipses) and rectangles. PhotoShop doesn't. Instead you select the shape and stroke or fill it with a color or effect.

More: Open a new canvas. Select a rectangle. Click Edit > Fill. Be sure the opacity is 100% and that you are filling with the Foreground color. Click > OK. (Note: Alt-Del, fills selection with foreground color. Ctrl-Del, fills with background color.)

Select a different area. Click Edit > Stroke. Check the opacity and other options.

Introduction to PhotoShop

Lesson 2
CREATING SELECTIONS

TOPIC

NOTES

Selection Tools

Page 324 in text.

Marquee

Rectangle

 

Ellipse

 

Lasso

Smooth

 

Polygon

 

Wand

Adding to Selections

Press and hold the Shift Key

Continue selecting

You can add to and subtract from selections as much as you like. As long as you hold down either the shift key or the alternate key, the selection will not be lost.

If you lose the selection accidentally, press Ctrl-Z to bring it back.

Subtracting from Selections

Press and hold the Alt Key

Use any selection tool to indicate areas to subtract from the selection.

 

Moving the pixels inside the selection

Press V (Move tool)

Click inside the marquee

Drag to new position.

The Move tool does not create selections, but it lets you move selected pixels.

Moving the Marquee only

With the selection tool active,

Click inside the selection, drag to new position.

You cannot use the selection tools to move selected pixels, but you can move the marquee anywhere you like.

Selections:
Basic Marquee Selections

When you make a selection, you tell the computer what area of the screen you want to work on. In Word Processing programs, selected text will change to a different color – usually white text on a dark field. When you make a selection in PhotoShop, it will be surrounded by "marching ants." When an area is selected, you can work on it. Some of the things you can do to a selected area include:

Selecting Rectangles and Ellipses

 

1. Press M to select the marquee tool.

2. Press Enter to display the Marquee options.

3. Press M again to toggle between the Rectangle and Ellipse.

4. Click and drag in the image to select an area.

Color the area

1. Press Alt-Del to fill the selection with the foreground color.

2. Press Ctrl-Del to fill the selection with the background color.

3. Press Delete to delete the selection. (On the background layer, the area may be filled with the background color.)

Create six filled rectangles and four filled ellipses.

v Note that if you click outside your selection, the selection is lost.

Selecting more than one area at a time

Shift key

v If you hold down the shift key, you can continue to make selections.

Adding to a selection — changing tools

Choose New Selection Tool, then hold down the Shift key

v You can continue to add to the selected area(s) with the same selection tool, or with different tools.

1. Create a rectangular selection.

2. Press M to toggle to the Ellipse.

3. Hold down the shift key.

4. Create a second selection.

5. Press Alt-Del to fill both.

v Note that you can paint, draw or fill inside the selections, but cannot affect areas outside the selections.

Selecting areas of an image with the Marquee tool.

1. Open BOXES.JPG. (This is a simple image with about twelve rectangles of various size, filled with red, blue and yellow.)

2. Use the Marquee tool to select all the red areas.

3. Use the Shift and Alt keys as needed to add to and subtract from selections.

4. Change the red areas to ORANGE.

5. Select all the blue areas.

6. Change them to PURPLE.

7. Select all the green areas.

8. Change them to YELLOW

Deselect

 

Ctrl-D

OR, if a selection tool is active, just click outside the selection.

Note: If you find you can’t draw or color, you probably have something selected. Press Ctrl-D, and try again.

 

 

Selections:
The lasso tool

Selecting irregular shapes

 

1. Press L to select the Lasso tool.

2. Press Enter to display the Lasso options.

3. Press L again to toggle between the Smooth and Polygon.

4. Click and drag in the image to select an area.

1. Color the area.

2. Use the paint brush (B) to paint inside the area.

3. Delete the selected pixels.

4. Move the marquee.

5. Move the selected pixels. (V)

The lasso is a good choice for many selection jobs. You can quickly "rope" areas to add to or subtract from selections.

v Use Shift or Alt to add to and subtract from selections.

v Complex selections can be saved as channels. This will be covered in a later class.

Open a photo file. Practice selecting various shapes and areas.

v You can combine the lasso and marquee tools.

v Change to the desired tool. (M, or L) Hold down shift. Continue to create the selection.

 

Selections:
The Magic Wand

Selecting a contiguous color area

With the Wand (W) click in the area you want to select.

Selecting a range of colors

Set the tolerance higher. Click in the area you want to select. You may need to adjust the tolerance and try again.

Selecting similarly colored pixels

Make the initial selection.

Click Select ± Similar.

Adding to and subtracting from selections

Hold Alt or Shift. Click on areas you want to add or subtract.

Extra credit:

v Open Boxes.jpg again. Select all the rectangles of the same color with just a few clicks.

v Add all the rectangles of a second color.

 

Selections:
Selecting an irregularly colored background

 Creating a complex selection

 Stars.jpg

v In this exercise, you will create an image, then select parts of it. After inverting the selection, you will apply a different fill to the background.

Create the Image

1. Canvas = 5" square, res 72, RGB.

2. Fill with a multiple color gradient: 100% opacity; linear. Drag from left to right.

3. Draw stars and octagon with the polygon lasso.

4. Draw curls with the smooth lasso.

5. Fill each shape with color: blue, yellow, magenta.

6. Select the entire image (Ctrl-A). Choose the Marquee, hold down Alt (to subtract from the selection) and drag a rectangle to deselect the center of the image. Leave only a border selected. Fill with black.

Nice image. Now for the tricky part. You need to select ONLY the background, and apply another gradient fill at 40% opacity! You could select all and then use the lasso and shift key. Here’s another way.

Create the selection

 

 

 

 

7. Press Ctrl-A to select everything.

8. Select the Wand. Hold the Alt key and click all the parts you will exclude from the selection.

9. When everything in the image is selected EXCEPT the background, invert the selection (Select ± Inverse, or Ctrl-Shift-I.)

10. Choose the Gradient fill. Set opacity to 40%. Drag the gradient at an angle to the first fill (Upper right to lower left.)

Working with Color

Topic

Comments

Notes

Colors

Colors have combinations of numerical values, from 0 to 255. Because of this, they can be added to and subtracted from each other.

Selections can be based on color values.

If you set the tolerance of the Magic Wand to zero, only pixels with exactly the same value will be selected.

If you set the tolerance to 10, pixels that have color values falling within that range will also be selected.

F-6

The Color Palette

 

D

Default Colors

 

X

Switch Foreground and Background colors

Or click the switch mark on the toolbox.

Click color boxes on the toolbox

The Color Picker appears

You can click either the foreground or the background color.

 

Hue-Saturation-Brightness

Three values, each ranging from 0 to 255, determine what you see on the screen.

Mode

Red-Green-Blue

Stick with this setting.

This is an "addition" color — meaning it is based on light, or on white, and the fact that all colors combined make white.

 

CYMK

This is how your printer will mix the color. It's a "subtractive" color. You can't really print all the colors you can see on your screen. (Ctrl-Y – displays in CMYK)

 

Lab Color and Pantone

Two more systems for matching colors.

 

Out of Gamut

Warns you that the color you have chosen can't be printed.

 

 

Creative Brushwork

Exploring the Brush palette

F5

You can alter existing brushes,

v Double-click an existing brush.

v Experiment with settings

 

 

You can create new brushes

v Click the triangle on the brushes palette.

v Click New Brush.

Assignment: Create a new brush with these settings: Diameter 11, Hardness 80%, Spacing 15, Angle 43ª, Roundness, 24%.

Create a second brush with settings of Diameter 10, Hardness 50, Spacing 50, Angle 150, Roundness 10.

 

Comments: Draw lines and write some words with these brushes. Try them with the paintbrush (B), the pencil (Y) and the airbrush (A).

More: Zoom in on the pencil lines and compare them to the other brushes. These are aliased and anti-aliased, respectively. (Anti-aliased produces smooth edges.)

 

You can display gridlines on your canvas.

Ctrl-R — displays the ruler. Click and drag gridlines into your work.

V (Move) — Lets you reposition, or drag lines off the canvas.

Delete the gridlines: View + Snap to Gridlines — turn off.

Exploring the Brush palette

v Look more closely at the Brush palette options.

v Delete the brushes you created, or reset the palette.

 

v New Brushes are based on the currently chosen brush.

v Current brushes can be altered.

v Brush sets can be saved.

 

v You can use a selection as a model for a new brush.

v The color of the selection will be interpreted as opacity.

Assignment: Draw a very small black squiggle on a white background (100% opacity.)

Select the squiggle.

Click on the Brush palette.

Click Define Brush. Your new brush appears at the bottom of the palette.

Create different shapes in various colors. Select and define as a brush.

Tool Options

You’ve learned to select the tools, either by clicking the toolbox or by pressing the shortcut key (A=Airbrush, B=Brush, C=Crop, etc.) Each one has options.

General Notes:

To display tool options:

Double-click tool,

OR Select tool, Press Enter

   

Sample merged:

Program sees all visible pixels, regardless of layers.

     

Reset (all) Tools:

Returns tools to normal settings.

     

Fade:

Goes from foreground to background, or to transparent.

     

Stylus Pressure:

For use with a special drawing pad.

     

 

 

Tool

Quick

Key

Apply Modes

Opacity

Setting

Comments

Features

Airbrush

A

Yes

Yes

Opacity is called Pressure.

Fade

Brush

B

Yes

Yes

 

Fade

Wet Edges

Crop tool

C

No

No

Set fixed size, or drag to fit.

Move mouse near corner to rotate selection.

Press Enter to accept.

Eraser

E

No

Yes

Erase Layers or entire Image.

Fade

Wet Edges

Erase to Saved

Gradient

G

Yes

Yes

You can create custom gradients.

Linear

Radial

Hand

(Spacebar)

H

No

No

Moves the view of an image.

Fit on Screen

Actual Pixels

Eyedropper

(Alt)

I

No

No

 

Sample Point

Sample 3x3 Average

Sample 5x5 Average

Bucket

K

Yes

Yes

Increase tolerance to cover a wider range of colors.

Fill with foreground color or with a defined pattern.

Lasso

L

No

No

Polygon

Smooth

Feather

Marquee

M

No

No

Can be set to a fixed size, or to constrained ratio.

Rectangle

Ellipse

Single Row or Column

Feather

Line

N

Yes

Yes

 

Width

Arrow Heads

Dodge, Burn, Sponge

O

Yes

Yes

Called "Exposure"

Pressing O toggles to different modes.

Shadows

Midtones

Highlights

Pen

P

No

No

The Pen creates Paths which can be turned into selections.

Click and hold on the Pen in the Toolbox to change to different modes.

Blur/ Sharpen

R

Yes

Yes

Called Pressure

 

Stamp

S

Yes

Yes

Used to paint over areas with a copy of another area.

Clone, Aligned & Non

From Patterns

From Saved

Impressionist

Type

T

No

No

Type is not PhotoShop's strong point.

No Options

Smudge

U

Yes

Yes

Called Pressure

Finger Painting

Move

V

No

No

 

Pixel Doubling

Wand

W

No

No

Increase tolerance to select a wider range of colors.

 

Pencil

Y

Yes

Yes

 

Fade

Auto Erase

Zoom

Z

No

No

 

Fit on Screen

Actual Pixels

Introduction to PhotoShop

Lesson 3
Layers

 

TOPIC / SKILL /

TECHNIQUE

NOTES

Preferences

Ctrl-K

Display and Cursors:

Set brush to Brush Size

Set tools to Standard

There are many preferences you can set. We’ll look only at one or two.

Create a new layer

 

Click the icon

on the Layers palette.

Because PhotoShop has only one Undo (ctrl-Z), it’s often an excellent idea to make your changes on a new layer.

 

Merging layers

Ctrl-E

(OR) Layer ± Flatten Image

Once you’re sure you like what you see,

merge

or flatten.

Saves memory and storage.

Displaying and hiding layers

Eyes open or closed?

To turn off all but one layer - Alt-click the layer you want to see.

Click and drag through the layers’ eyeballs to turn them all on or all off.

Changing the order of layers

Drag them where you want them. It can make a major difference which order you have them in.

Ctrl-[ or ]

Shift-ctrl [ or ]

Apply Modes - Layers

Instead of using an apply mode on your paint tool, leave the tool in normal mode and set the layer.

 

Opacity

You know how to set the brush to 50% opacity. Now try setting an entire layer.

Pressing a number works for layers, just as it does for tools. If you have a paint tool selected, you set the tool. If you have a editing tool selected, you set the Layer.

Note: you can easily set a tool by pressing Enter. You will automatically be "in" the Options box, ready to type the opacity or pressure setting for that tool.

Green sky, anybody?

Open hotel.jpg. Select the sky. New layer. Fill with green.

 

Drop Shadows

We’ll put a shadow behind the Cookies– the easy way.

 

Homework:

Work through the text from the Interactive Course book, chapter 3.

Next week: Layer Masks, Apply Modes, Filters Read as much as you can about these features.

 

 

LAYERS And channels

Last week you learned how to make basic selections. Although some of these selections were fairly complex, they are considered basic, because all the pixels were either 100% selected or 100% nonselected. The only partial selections were the softened edges (anti-aliased) of the selected area.

You can create extremely complex selections with PhotoShop. This is because PhotoShop uses black and white to create the selections, and grey will create a partial selection. In other words, the degree of selection can be thought of as a value, represented by some step along a range of black-grey-white.

You can select different areas of your image. Once selected, all the areas (even though widely separated) are part of the same selection. If you click outside the selection with a selection tool, you will lose the selection. (Unless you press Ctrl-Z immediately). To keep from having to create the same selection more than once, save any selection that takes more than three minutes to create as a Channel.

If you create a Floating Selection and then deselect, the selection will be painted onto the layer below the floating selection. You can't lift it up again (unless you press Ctrl-Z right away. The cure is to copy your selected pixels to a new layer with Ctrl-J.

Chapter 3 of the Waite book, Adobe PhotoShop 4 Interactive Course by Waite Group Press, introduces the full power of Layers and Channels. The emphasis in this chapter is on the commands needed to create and manage these PhotoShop features. By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

  1. State the difference between a Layer and a Channel and know when to use one or the other.
  2. Save a selection to a Channel, or to a new Layer.
  3. Select, link, export, and reorder Layers.
  4. Explain how grayscale (black and white) channels produce transparency.

The Waite PhotoShop 4/5 texts can be viewed on-line at http://206.246.131.244/ezone2/main.htm . Go to the Learn Zone and register as a guest. It is strongly recommended that you read the chapter on Layers from that book.

(BTW: I highly recommend this book. Despite a few typos, it's the best tutorial there is for the program. Unfortunately, the version 5 book uses the same images as the version 4 book — otherwise it's terrific.)

 

Introduction to PhotoShop

Lesson 4
Channels, Filters and Apply Modes

TOPIC / SKILL /

TECHNIQUE

NOTES

Review-Tools

By now you should have had a chance to explore and become familiar with all the tools on the toolbox.

Channels

What are they, what are they for?

Color channels

Top channels on the palette.

Created by the program.

Store the info about the pixels' colors.

 

Alpha channels

Created by the user.

Can be used to store selections.

Black is completely selected, white is unselected. Greys represent partially selected pixels.

Saving selections

 

1. Create the selection.

2. Click the Channels tab or click Window ± Show Channels Palette.

3. Click the tab at the bottom of the palette: Save Selection as Channel. (Second from left, looks like a white spot on a shaded square.)

Loading selections

Ctrl+Alt+chan-nel number

OR…

1. Switch to the Channels palette.

2. Click the channel you want to load.

4. Click the first tab on left, "Load channel as selection."

Homework: Filters

 

Draw a woman.

Save as woman.jpg.

Use woman.jpg to practice apply modes and filters. Bring your works of art to the next class.

 

Apply Modes

Apply modes control the way pixels combine or interact with the pixels below them. You can choose an apply mode for a paint tool. You can also choose an apply mode for an entire layer. This causes every pixel in the layer to interact with the layer directly below according to the mode you choose.

Layers — You can change the apply mode as many times as you like for a layer.

Painting — If you are painting, the effect is permanent.

Apply modes are based on the mathematical values of the color. In multiply mode, for example, the values are (guess what) multiplied, and the resulting value determines the color. If the resulting values go beyond the PhotoShop ranges, (zero or 255), you’ll get black or white.

Apply modes respond to opacity. If you use an apply mode but lower the opacity, the effect will be reduced.

Don’t try to memorize these. It will take a lot of experimenting before apply modes become predictable — and in fact, many of them are never going to be predictable.

Mode

Comments

Normal

The pixel under the cursor will be replaced with the foreground color.

Dissolve

At 100% opacity, Dissolve looks much like Normal mode, but with ragged edges. At lower opacities dissolve leaves specks of the new pixels on the image, resembling the toothbrush spatter effect.

Behind

Available with painting tools, this one only works on a transparent layer, and only lets paint stick on areas that are clear. The effect is like painting behind the original colors.

Clear

Replaces pixels on the layer with transparency. Available in the Line and Paint Bucket tools, and in Fill and Stroke commands. (Won’t work on the background layer.)

Multiply

Darkens, but does not darken everything to the same degree. Takes the value of the pixel and multiplies it by the value of the foreground color, then divides the result by 255. The color you see in the image is the answer to the math problem. A color multiplied with white always gets the original color as its result (255xcolor/255=color). If a color is multiplied by black, the result is always black.

White = no change. Black = black.

Screen

Opposite of Multiply. Makes colors lighter along a curve. Colors screened with white become white. Colors screened with black keep the original color.

White = white. Black = no change.

Overlay

Depending on the color of the original pixel, Overlay either multiplies or screens. Similar to placing a transparent, but colored, overlay on an image. The highlights and shadows retain their original colors, but the midtones accept the overlaid color.

Soft Light

Like viewing the image under a soft colored light. Either lightens a bit (if the original is lighter than 50% grey) or darkens a bit (if the original is darker than 50% grey. The mode favors the original pixel colors in the result.

Hard Light

Similar in concept to Soft Light, but the results are different. Light colors are screened. Dark colors are multiplied. The result is an exaggeration or harshening of the colors in the image. This mode favors the newly applied color in the result.

Color Dodge

Like the Dodge tool, this mode lightens the image. It looks at each pixel and brightens it, based on the foreground color.

Black = no change. White = maximum change.

Color Burn

Opposite of Color Dodge. Darkens the image, like the Burn tool.

Black = maximum change. White = no change.

Lighten

Compares the original pixel to the applied pixel. Selects the lighter value.

Example:

Original pixel = RGB 100, 40, 24

Applied pixel = RGB 91, 177, 71

Resulting pixel = RGB 100, 177, 71

Darken

Opposite of Lighten. Selects the darker value.

Resulting pixel = RGB 91, 40, 24

Difference

Subtracts the value of original pixels from the value of the new color. The result is very hard to predict, but this one creates interesting effects. Painting with greys will result in the same color family.

Black = No change. White = Inverts the colors.

Exclusion

Similar to Difference, but the results are muted.

Hue

Replaces the hue of the existing pixel with the hue of the new one. Leaves saturation and value alone.

Black and White = No Change.

Saturation

Applies the saturation (pure color value) of the new pixels. Painting with a fully saturated color changes the old pixels to fully saturated.

Color

Replaces both Hue and Saturation.

Luminosity

Inverse of Color. Result contains the value of the new pixel, but the Hue and Saturation are unchanged.

Filters

 

Filters are fun and easy. They can be used for special effects and for serious image correction. They can be applied to the entire image, or to a portion – a selection, layer or channel.

Filter Sets

Artistic

Stylize. Make a photo look like it was drawn or painted by hand.

Blur

Soften focus.

Brush Strokes

Make a selection look as if various brushes were used.

Distort

Rearrange image data to warp, deform, twist, wrench and bend.

Noise

Add or remove random pixels. Correct scans, add film grain.

Pixelize filters

Group pixels in distinct way: mosaic, pointillist.

Render

Clouds and lighting

Sharpen

Improve focus.

Sketch

Novel effects: bas relief, note paper, chrome.

Stylize

Special effects: find edges, emboss.

Texture

Add texture: mosaic tiles, cracked paint.

Video

Remove noise from a video capture. Enforce broadcast-safe colors.

Other

Miscellaneous functions.

Plug-ins

Purchased sets that can be added to the program.

Types of Filters

One-step

Has no interface, because it has no options. Select and apply.

Parameter

Has a control dialog box. Set the options.

Preview

Turn on to see changes

Turn off to compare changes with original

Types of Preview

 

None

Very complex filters (Tiles) have none

Small

A tiny area of the image is previewed. Set the %, or move about with the hand.

Wire

May show the path the filter will use, but not pixel data. May have a Small preview.

Full

In addition to the Small preview, the image changes as you alter the settings.

Application

Purchased filters that can be added to the PhotoShop program.

 

Fade Filter

Click Filter ± Fade Filter. This displays a dialog box. You can change the opacity of the filter, so the original shows through. You can also change the apply mode for the filter. So even one-step filters have nearly infinite possibilities.

Using One-Step Filters

Difference Clouds

Difference Clouds creates effects based on the foreground and background colors, and your image.

1. Open hotel.jpg

2. Duplicate the Image.

3. Select the red from the roof as your foreground color.

4. Set the background color to the green from the trees.

5. Filter ± Render ± Difference Clouds

 

Do different colors make a difference?

1. Undo (Ctrl-Z)

2. Change your colors to pale yellow and dark blue.

3. Apply the filter again (Ctrl-F)

 

Does it matter which way the colors are set?

1. Undo (Ctrl-Z)

2. Reverse the foreground and background colors

3. Re-apply the filter (Ctrl-F)

 

 

Go back to the roof-red, tree-green colors, and apply the filter repeatedly.

(Interesting effect: Ctrl-L, choose white eyedropper, click on lightest portion of the picture – probably some area of the little house to the right.)

Other One Step filters to try:

Stylize ± Solarize

Stylize ± Find Edges

Blur ± Blur

Blur ± Blur More

Noise ± Despeckle

Pixelate ± Facet

Pixelate ± Fragment

Render ± Clouds

 

Using Parameter Filters

Don’t memorize the name. It just means these filters come with parameters that you can set.

In this exercise, you will combine photos of an African mask and a zebra skin. You will then apply various filters to the two layers.

Combine the images.

1. Open mask.jpg and zebra.jpg.

2. Copy the mask background layer to a new layer (click and drag the layer to the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers palette.

3. Working on the new layer, select all the white background, including the eyes.

4. Press Delete

 

 

The white pixels have been deleted from the layer. You still see white because the background layer is visible. Click the eyeball to turn off the background layer. You’ll see transparency checks.

 

 

5. Select the Move tool (V).

6. Click the mask. Drag it onto the zebra background.

7. Position it slightly to the left of the image.

8. Name the layer "MASK"

Holding Shift when you drag one image into another causes the layer to be centered.

Duplicate the Image

9. Just for safety’s sake, Right-click the image’s title bar. Click Duplicate.

If you mess up with your filtered effects, you have spare parts.

 

The image now has a layer and a background. The background contains a zebra skin section, and layer 1, MASK, contains the main image object. Both images are from Kai’s Power Photos IV .

 

Apply Difference Clouds to the background layer

10. Click the background layer to make it the active layer.

 

Pick Colors from the Photo

11. Select the Eyedropper (I) and pick a deep ochre from the face area of the mask as the foreground color. Pick a light gold from the mask’s headdress area as the background color.

12. Apply the Difference Clouds filter.

Click on a color to select a foreground color.

Alt-click to set the back-ground color.

Apply the Mosaic Filter

13. Make the MASK layer active. (Click it on the Layers palette.)

 

 

14. Open the Mosaic filter dialog (Filter ± Pixelate ± Mosaic.)

15. Set the cell size at 11.

16. Click OK.

The value represents the number of pixels per square. Try other values.

Emboss the Mask

17. Drag the icon for MASK to the New Layer icon.

18. Name Mask Copy "Top Mask."

19. Apply the Find Edges filter (Filter ± Stylize ± Find Edges).

20. Change the Apply mode for the Layer to Multiply.

 

Add Definition and 3D to the Squares

21. Apply the Emboss filter (Filter ± Stylize ± Emboss.)

22. Set angle to –50 (or +310).

23. Set height to 3.

24. Set amount to 100%. Click OK.

 

Lighten the Mask

25. Change the Apply mode for the layer to Soft Light.

26. Merge Top Mask and Mask (Ctrl-E)

 

Drop Shadows - A recipe to remember.

27. Select the object to be shadowed.

In this case, ctrl-click the MASK layer. This selects the non-transparent pixels on the layer.

28. Create a new layer.

Click the New Layer icon.

Drag the new layer below MASK. Name it SHADOW.

29. On the new layer, fill the selection with a dark color. (You can pick one from the image.)

30. Apply a Gaussian blur.

31. Drag the shadow to the position you prefer.

32. Reduce opacity, or set apply mode to Multiply, for the layer, or both.

Drop Shadows are an effect you will add often. Memorize the recipe.

The Shear Filter

The Shear filter is a special effects filter on the Distort menu that enables you to skew your image and wrap around or create curves and folds. The filter only works vertically on the image, and we want to filter it across. Therefore we need to turn the entire image first.

 

Turning the Image

33. Image ± Rotate Canvas ± 90o clockwise.

 

Apply the Shear Filter

34. Make the Background layer active.

35. Open Shear (Filter ± Distort ± Shear.)

 

 

You’ll need to experiment with the grid to get the feel of how this filter works. Once you do, it’s simple to create the shear you want.

 

 

36. Start by clicking on the intersections of the line with the grid square, to leave additional points

37. Click between the top two points and leave a third point in the center.

38. Drag this point to the left.

39. Continue to leave points and drag to place the curves until your image looks similar to the one below.

The Shear Filter has a Small preview. You can’t see the results of the filter until after the filter is applied.

  

40. Rotate the canvas counterclockwise 90o .

 

 

An interesting, and simple filter, demonstrating another wire frame is the Twirl Filter.

 

Apply the Twirl Filter

41. Filter ± Distort ± Twirl

42. Drag the angle slider to about 250 o . Click OK.

 

 

 

 

 

THE GRADIENT EDITOR

Action

To Execute

Notes

Select the Gradient tool.

Press G.

 

Display the Gradient palette.

Press Enter.

 

Display available gradients.

Click Gradient: name u

Open the Gradient Editor.

Click Edit.

Available gradients appear in the window.

Base a new Gradient on an existing one:

Click on the name of the existing gradient, click on the Duplicate button .

 

Create a new gradient from scratch:

Click on the New button. Rename the Gradient if you like.

 

Modify an existing gradient:

Select it and start making changes.

 

Rename or remove a gradient:

Select it, click Rename or Remove.

 

Save and load gradient sets:

Use the Load and Save buttons.

 

Change the color or transparency of a gradient:

Use the Adjust radio buttons.

 

Exercise: Base a new Gradient on the Blue, Red, Yellow Gradient.

  1. The bar below the Adjust choices, which is now colored, allows you to choose the colors of the gradient and where you want each color to appear along the gradient line that you draw. Each point below this color bar represents a different color. You can add a new point by clicking below the Color Bar, and you can move a point by dragging it.
  2. The Location box tells you the location of this color as a percentage of the length of the line you draw to create the gradient. To change a point to a particular color, click the point, click F to get the foreground color, or B point to get the background color, or click in the color box and pick a new color.
  3. The current color point has its triangle top highlighted in black. You can click on these points and drag them to any location along the length of the bar. The colors in the bar, and the transparency indicator below, will change to show the effect of your movement.
  4. The diamonds above the colored bar represent the halfway points between colors. Click and drag the diamonds. The Location window shows the location, relative to the distance between these two points. The default location of the diamonds is always 50, but you can move them left and right.
  5. Click the Transparency setting of the Adjust radio buttons to change the transparency of the gradient.
  6. Turn off the transparency of any gradient by turning off the Mask check box on the Gradient Options palette. Ex: Turn off Mask and then use the Foreground to Transparent option. Result: solid foreground color.
  7. The bar that had color in it when you were adjusting the gradient colors now displays black or white. This represents the opacity. (Black represents 100% opacity and white represents 0% opacity.)
  8. The length of the bar represents the length of the line you draw when making the gradient. You can place Opacity points anywhere along the bottom of the bar by clicking below the bar. When you click on a point, its top turns black. The Location window shows the location of this point relative to the total length of the line. The Opacity window shows its opacity. You can see the effect of your changes in opacity by looking at the Opacity preview bar at the bottom of the dialog box. As when adjusting the gradient color, you can click above the Opacity bar to place diamonds that represent the midpoints.

 

Recipe — Drop Shadows

 

  1. Select the object that needs a shadow.
  2. Copy the selection to a new layer (Ctrl-J)
  3. Check the Preserve Transparency box on the Layers Palette
  4. With a suitable color selected (black, or a dark tone from the image) press Alt-Delete. This fills the non-transparent pixels of the layer with the color.
  5. Uncheck Preserve Transparency.
  6. Apply a Gaussian Blur (Filter ± Blur ± Gaussian Blur.) Adjust the settings to suit your image.
  7. Drag the Shadow layer beneath the object layer.
  8. With the Move tool (V) drag the shadow into position.
  9. If the shadow doesn’t look quite real, try changing the Apply Mode to Multiply.
  10. Adjust the opacity of the shadow layer.

 

Exploring Apply Modes

 Exploring Apply Modes

Apply paint in different apply modes.

1. Select sky,

2. Fill with fuschia, multiply mode 100%

3. Select trees, fill with yellow,

4. Color dodge 100%,

5. Try soft light.

Dull Building

1. Magic wand at 50%, select sky. Save selection.

2. Load selection, invert.

3. Paint building white and then yellow in Overlay Mode.

4. Brush at 100%, but set layer opacity to 57%.

Paint light globes white in luminosity. Experiment . Skyline1

Select sky, fill with fuschia, multiply mode 100%

Select trees, fill with yellow, Color dodge 100%, try soft light.

 

 

Introduction to PhotoShop

Lesson 5
Masking, Blending Photos

What Masks Are

A Mask is a selection, expressed as a grayscale (black blended to white) image.

± Selected areas are white.

± Unselected areas are black.

± Partially selected areas are shades of gray.

What Masks Do

Masking is another way to build a selection. Masks offer the benefits of the other selection tools.

± Like the Lasso, Masking creates freeform selections

± Like the Wand, Masking lets you select areas of color.

± As with the Marquee, you can fill areas with Masking.

In addition, Masks let you:

± Select any opacity (partially select a pixel, so that the pixel is only half affected)

± Precisely control the edge of your selection.

± Create selections as natural as the image you are working on.

± Add to and subtract from the selection by painting it.

When you paint a mask onto an image, it will look like translucent red-pink paint. This is called a rubylith.

Masked = black ( or rubylith) = protected = not selected.

Unmasked = white = not protected = selected.

Selected pixels will be affected by changes; i.e. filters, painting, filling, etc.

You can edit the Mask, instead of editing the image. (If you paint the mask with black, white and grey, you are editing it.) Once the Mask is perfect, use it to mask the image, and then apply changes — filters, color adjustment, etc. — to the image.

Three Advanced Exercises

 

Textures

WishWell.jpg

Open WishWell.jpg. Save it in .jpg format. Apply the Texturizer filter, using Wishwell.jpg as the texture. (To see the difference, press Ctrl-Z repeatedly.)

Masking

Layer Masks

Open redflowers.jpg and Dan.jpg. Drag Dan into redflowers. Create a layer mask. Experiment with painting out and restoring Dan's background and face.

 

How do you save the mask information?

Right-click the layer name. Choose Save Selection. Save it as a new channel.

 

What can you do with the mask information?

Use it to re-load the selection. OR

Apply it, to cut out unwanted parts of the image.

 

 

 

Using the Net Class Exercise

Acquiring an image from the net.

Find an image you like on the Net.

Right-click the image.

Click "Save Image."

Be sure you know where you are putting the image, or you may never see it again. The desktop is a good place to put it for now.

 

Sending the image in email

Create your email message.

Click Attach.

Browse to the image.

Click Open, OK.

If your image is in jpg or gif format, it will be visible at the bottom of the message.

1